Wedding Gifts Ideas

Suffice it to say that we are all guilty of waiting till the wedding morning before running ‘helter skelter’ for the a suitable wedding gift, which usually turns out to be dinnerware or glassware or any of those boring cliché wedding gifts.

You don’t have to spend a fortune on presents, the key word here is – Planning. Rather than wait till 4 hours to the wedding, set a reminder on your phone to shop the weekend before, that way you have all the time to thoughtfully pick out the perfect gift.

To narrow your options, some couples have a gift registry they send around so people have an idea of what they actually ‘need’. The problem with this is that most couples tend to play it safe with the gift registry so as not to be perceived as being too demanding.

If you choose to go with the gift register you will always find something that your pocket can stomach, otherwise, consider making something. The couple will appreciate the time and effort you put into your wedding gift. It may be a frame of: an old picture of them together, a story of their journey together, or their wedding invitation. This is guaranteed to make them think fondly of you forever.

It’s ok if you don’t have the time to make something, play it safe, go for kitchen gadgets, get a fun ceramic food menu frame they can hang on their kitchen wall, colourful place mats (AKA table mats), knife sets, girly chopping boards, pop up toasters (no, not the regular popular sandwich maker), casserole dishes, blenders or a food processor, and finally non-stick cookware.

I know the men are grumbling now, because they obviously would suck at picking out fabulous kitchen stuff, so here: walk into a store and buy them what you would like to see in your home. It could be a duvet cover and throw pillows, diffusers, bath sets, fancy salt and pepper containers, foot mats, flower vases, framed art, you can even make them both matching bath robes! ANYTHING. My friend got a banana hanger as a wedding gift. Who would have thought there was a special hanger you could use to hang your bananas?! Go wild.

Of course there is always the option of electronics, traditional yet very relevant. If you’ve got a lot of cash, go with this option. Have you been to the couple’s home? Do they have a plasma screen TV? Buy them a bigger one. It’s 2013, the ‘Mrs’ shouldn’t be manually washing clothes, buy them a washing machine, everybody deserves a double door refrigerator, get them one, throw in a microwave oven or even a yam pounder while you’re at it.

Some of us though, would always strive to do ‘the very unexpected’. You don’t need to buy them a jet or a car to really surprise them, just make a long grocery list and go shopping (be sure you’re close enough friends to be invited to the wedding after-party so you can stock their fridge and store!) or you can make them a custom hamper, could be an only champagne hamper, perfume hamper, jewelry hamper or even a luxury hamper where you can throw all in you want. It’s as simple as walking into any gift store with a list of what you want in the hamper and have them deliver it to you on the said date. Alternatively, buy them some shoes!

And for those of you that will still ignore all my long preaching and do marathon races on the fateful Saturday morning, you can run to any of these gift stores/ malls: